The Theory of Everything Review

[Westside Steve]

The Theory of Everything

Focus

PG 13. 123 min

 

 

 

I guess there was a point at one of the Academy meetings when somebody looked around the table and said "you know, I think we need at least two period films about eccentric British geniuses, what say you?" to resounding chorus of applause.

At any rate THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING wound up as one of this year's superfluous entries. I suppose the choice to go from 5 up to 8 entries was either to make room for more extraordinary films or to burden me personally with having to see stuff that probably shouldn't have made the cut.

(Actually I would bet the motive was profit)

Unfortunately, unlike THE IMITATION GAME, not the story, the conflict nor the subject of this biography, Dr Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) himself are particularly interesting. The doctor is certainly unique and his work brilliant, from what I'm told, but there's not really much going on in this story to keep you glued to the screen.

Dr Hawking was a prodigy at Cambridge whose most famous accomplishment, I'm guessing, is the proof, or as close as you can get, of the Big Bang Theory and its relationship to the beginning of the universe. In essence something he understands and I don't. We also know he had a degenerative nerve disease, something similar to if not actually ALS, and given by his doctors two years to live. Well as of this writing he is 73 years old.

Eventually the good doctor and his wife split up and found happiness, she with an Anglican choir director and he with his caregiver, ending with both couples living happily apart ever after. And that friends is as exciting as it gets. This is not a bad film, just underwhelming with the decided overtones of BBC production values. That is just a bit dull without any of the sleek and shiny aspects of American films. One very impressive aspect, however, is the performance of Eddie Redmayne as Dr. Hawking which in some ways reminded me of the brilliant Daniel Day Lewis in 1989s MY LEFT FOOT.

Maybe those with more interest or understanding of scientific research would be more intrigued here yet whatever theoretic details are involved don't really make it into the script.

 

C+

 

WSS